Turning $16 into $89

I played the home version of Let 8 Ride on Wednesday at Delta Downs. I call it "the home version" because I'm not eligible for the cash prizes available to those who successfully let it ride tonight, though if I string four winners in a row together then I'll still consider myself a charter member of the Jay Trotter Hall of Fame!

There's a long way to go, of course, and the waters get really deep when you consider from here on out any player only has one bullet to fire each day.

I played two horses to win on Wednesday--#8 Leaveittomebaby & #9 Anna Jane's Crane--the former made a couple moves but faded in the stretch as the latter spurted away in the final strides to punctuate a gate-to-wire win with a $22.40 mutuel to return $89.60 for my $8 to win (and about 9-to-2 on my total investment).

Fifteen players besides me made an $8 bet on Anna Jane's Crane. They can either let it ride with an $89 win bet on tonight's eighth race (link accesses free Ultimate PPs from Brisnet.com) or pocket their $89.60. If they let it ride and lose then they're out their investment from Wednesday; if they let it ride and win then they have tonight's winnings plus a chance to compete for a $500 consolation prize on Friday or a $1,000 prize for making it to Saturday.

I'm going to let it ride on #6 My Star Runner, who I don't expect will be his morning line price of 3-to-1, but who I do expect to still offer value even at 2-to-1. There is more speed in this race than in Wednesday's "Let 8 Ride" affair, but none seem as capable of carrying their speed against these as well as My Star Runner, who gets class relief and is 2/3 both at the distance (5f) and at the track.

#1 Where's Cain is an alternative, and if this were Wednesday I'd be tempted to use him as well if he were 4-to-1 as the morning line suggests, but the dynamics of the game definitely have me staunchly in My Star Runner's corner as the most likely winner.